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If God is for me . . . who can be against me?

"Hope
deferred makes the heart grow sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12)

"Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will
restore double to you." (Zechariah 9:12)

Dear Hope Champions,

Notice in this well-known proverb that the Word does not say, "IF the desire comes," rather, it says, "WHEN the desire comes, it is a tree
of life." Many of your desires have been growing deep, strong roots underground, unseen to the natural eye. But you have kept hope alive. Like Abraham who came into his promised identity as "a father of many nations" because he was one "who, contrary to hope,
in hope believed...And therefore 'it was accounted to him for righteousness'" (Romans 4:18; 22).

Hope keeps an account. That account is often hidden underground in the roots where the greatest life develops, but it keeps account. Consider
it like a unique, high-yield interest savings account. And though many might be discouraged with an attack on the recent sprouts they thought were finally starting to grow, even if those sprouts were snatched by a thief, they do not begin to compare with the
depth, the strength and the reality of the account your hope-roots have birthed and taken residence in unseen places.

I believe we are about to see what I would call, "The Great Hope Transition" as we watch many hidden hope champions move
from being prisoners of hope deferred and become sudden harvesters of hope doubled. In fact, the underground transition of such may have already happened, it's just waiting to surface in all God's glory!

A Finishing
Stage

"And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope." (Romans 5:3-4)

I believe many have been in a
"finishing stage." The fire has come back with what feels hotter than ever, fire that you thought you had already walked through. But this fire isn't to break you down and re-mold you yet again, but to prove you. This fire will only prove the strength God
has built in you these past seasons from the inside out. This finishing stage is a catalyst, like with Joseph, Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, a catalyst that brought about their great hope transition from being a prisoner of hope deferred to reaping
a harvest of hope doubled.

And let's take joy in the fact that perseverance has been such a part of the birthing process. It is that "perseverance" that transitions us. It helps us not to live by what we see or feel in our current season,
or allow it to dictate to what is beyond the veil of the next. Perseverance is what makes us champions. It is the ingredient that cannot be taught by mere knowledge or even passed on by a great mentor. Rather, it has to be experienced and extracted first-hand.
Perseverance is the aroma of the overcomer who carries to the world the kind of testimony of hope that multiplies for generations. The perseverance test you have passed is the proof that you can carry the new wine for the new season.

When
the Desire Comes

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out..." (Romans 5:5)

God's love has been poured out and that is what makes this transition from deferred to double so
possible. Hope deferred may be an attack from the enemy but it is one God can use as a catapult into double. As you are pulled back and waiting in its grasp, the tension becomes a strength, force and momentum that grows strong enough to launch you further
than you could have ever stepped, leapt, journeyed or even hoped on your own. Before you know it you are flung into promises in ways that you might never have dreamt possible. For God is just that good and His ways and thoughts that much higher – and
different – than our own. And when you are launched by that catapult, you often land right within what used to be the horizon you once longed for.

Hope does not disappoint, it appoints. When hope finally comes to fruition, bigger,
better and different than you imagined, with it comes a tree of life that shoots up fast and strong because it has been growing inside of you the whole time.

Not long ago I had a dream where I watched this kind of oak of righteousness
growing beneath the surface within me suddenly reveal its full maturity and break through the crown of my head. I could see that it had actually been growing in me the whole time, waiting to reveal itself from the depth of its roots in my heart to the hope
champion it had already grown to be – only hidden until that moment. It went from unseen to a fully mature oak with the most sudden of transitions.

These are the trees of life we can expect to suddenly rise from our lives in this
new season. These aren't just any roots in you and not just tiny shoots of a baby tree. They are a beautiful, splendid oak of righteousness that has been growing within you during this whole "deferred" season. Soon, that tree will burst through the crown of
your head too, and your delay will prove to be your greatest strength because God prepared something in you. He's prepared someone who will not be moved; who will not be shaken, someone who is ready for the double portion of restoration that His hope champions
must carry to the world in this season.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound...to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."
(Isaiah 61:1,3)

Here come these trees of life! Here comes the great hope transition – from deferred to double! It's happening within you.

Latest comments

24.12 | 06:44

06.12 | 03:38

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Chri